I have to say, the quality of my fellow Michigan fans has gone down since I was last active on this board (last draft). There's no reason to turn a simple team thread into a pissing contest...

OSU is going to be very good, but not great next year IMO. They obviously lost almost all the explosiveness on their offense, but they still have a good OL and Chris Wells to pound the ball. Seeing as everything else offensive becomes easier when you have a good running game, I'm sure Tressel will manage to scare up at least a little production out of the new QB and WR core. Not going to be the gamebreaking type offensive unit they were last year, but you guys should be okay against most teams, especially seeing as with your defense you're not going to need to light up the scoreboard to win. Were I a tOSU fan however, I would be nervous about any team that can effectively stop the run (PSU and Wisconsin) because I highly doubt you will have the passing game to compete otherwise.

Defense is going to be really really good. Vernon Gholston (out of Cass Tech in Detroit... way to go Carr), Robert Rose, James Laurinaitis, Malcolm Jenkins, etc. plus obviously a very good planner in Tressel means you should be able to control the vast majority of offenses you face this year. Most of the other good teams in the Big 10 this year are of a similar build to OSU (run heavy, good D), which probably plays into your hands. I would expect Michigan to be the only team on your regular season schedule with the ability to light you up- I'm not making any homerific promises that we actually will, but certainly there is no other team on tOSU's schedule with the offensive stockpile of UM.
In general though, I'd expect OSU to grind out most teams they play this year . A really solid running game plus a sick defense with a lot of athletes means you will win a lot, but probably in not as flashy of fashion as last year.

If I had to predict a win loss, I'd say you're going to lose at least one out of PSU and Wisconsin, and hopefully Michigan. 2 loss season at most, probably end up somewhere in the 10-15 range at the end of the season.

Just guesses really, at this early in the game.

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“Some people try to find things in this game that don't exist but football is only two things - blocking and tackling.”

Umm...very high of course, but if there are 3 we'd probably be left out because of SOS, but that's not gonna happen.

Well, I'd expect SC to finish undefeated and be #1. If Ohio State were to finish undefeated I'd have them at 2 probably considering LSU will lose an SEC game, WVU will lose to Rutgers/USF/Louisville (at least one of them). OSU undefeated would mean Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State would have at least one loss. So 1/2 for your question.

If Ohio State goes undefeated any year they are in the National Championship game. No debate, that's just how it is. But going undefeated this year is gonna be tough considering how good Michigan and Wisconsin are.

I think the x-factor for how good OSU's defense will be this year is in the DTs. No doubt we have probably the pass rushing defensive line in the country on 3rd downs when they have Vernon Gholston and Lawrence Wilson at the ends and Doug Worthington and Robert Rose at the tackles. However on run downs we have 2 1 gap DTs in Worthington (6-7/285) and Denlinger (6-3/290) who probably won't take a double team and keep guys off the linebackers as well as they did last year. This will especially be tested against UM and Wisky. I think Boeckman will be fine, and that he will thrive off the great running game and offensive line...he should statistically exceed Craig Krenzel, but I'm not sure how good he will be at not turning the ball over and making clutch plays to win games like Krenzel. OSU has a great chance at title shot this year, but they need to win at UM on the road.

"If Ohio State goes undefeated any year they are in the National Championship game. No debate, that's just how it is. But going undefeated this year is gonna be tough considering how good Michigan and Wisconsin are."

You realize Ohio State going undefeated this year isn't even a guarentee they win the B10, right?

__________________
“Some people try to find things in this game that don't exist but football is only two things - blocking and tackling.”

"If Ohio State goes undefeated any year they are in the National Championship game. No debate, that's just how it is. But going undefeated this year is gonna be tough considering how good Michigan and Wisconsin are."

You realize Ohio State going undefeated this year isn't even a guarentee they win the B10, right?